Last night, I was feeling a bit Southern-food-inspired but wanted to make it with a healthier twist. So I decided to make some good old fashioned Sweet Buttermilk Cornbread and this fried chicken. Traditional fried chicken is heavily coated and deep-fried. I can’t seem to handle deep-fried foods anymore, so I opted to use a crispy type of bread crumb – panko (look for it in the International food section – likely near Japanese foods – of most supermarkets) – and bake it in the oven instead of frying it.

Yes, I know, I could have used the air fryer but I was making a bunch and they didn’t all fit in there. So the oven it was!

Now, it sounds like there are a lot of spices for this fried chicken but using all of them really helps bring out the nostalgic fried chicken flavors you’ll want from this. Many of these are common staples, if you cook here and there, and available in most shops/online.

The biggest key to this recipe is the buttermilk – a real creamy buttermilk. I’ve tried making my own using lemon or vinegar in whole milk and it just isn’t the same as store bought. In this case, I used the stores help, bought the buttermilk and marinated the chicken for hours and hours. It really helps to break the chicken down and make it super tender.

Once the marinating part is out of the way, cooking is a breeze! Just dredge, bake, eat! I highly suggest making this with my cornbread – you’re honestly going to love it!

Tell me, what’s your favorite kind of Southern food? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll make it next!